It is a problem in the field of brain injuries to provide a method and apparatus that can be used to quickly, accurately, and non-invasively evaluate an individual to identify the presence of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and its variants, also known as Minimal Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI), more commonly known as concussion (collectively termed “TBI” herein).
TBI is the leading cause of death and disability for America's youth. According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), between one million and four million new brain injuries occur every year in America due to trauma in sports and recreational activities. More than 767,000 American youth visit the emergency room because of traumatic brain injuries each year. Of those, more than 80,000 are hospitalized and more than 11,000 die. This at-risk population is only now gaining recognition and awareness, as most youth sports activities take place with no health care professionals in attendance, and few programs are available to determine which players suffer a concussion or when they should return to play after this injury. While professional sports, such as the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), and National Hockey League (NHL), are implementing safety and monitoring standards, even they are utilizing only one or two of the quartet of commercially available tests which are known to be of value for adequate assessment and management of patients with TBI: physical examination by a qualified healthcare professional; neurocognitive testing; balance assessment; and eye movement responses. The frequency and sequelae of concussions have garnered national and international media attention, and has reached epidemic proportions, with these events now documented to be of greatest significance in younger (6- to 14-year-old) athletes whose brains have not yet become fully developed (“myelinated”). Note that sequelae of TBI include headache and dizziness, anxiety, apathy, depression, aggression, cognitive impairments, personality changes, mania, and psychosis. Typically, a sequela is a chronic condition that is a complication of an acute condition that begins during the acute condition.
Prior scientific research shows that eye movements are affected by these types of traumatic events. Although the research presents findings which support this hypothesis, the presently available equipment, test protocols, and analysis protocols are limited in several important respects and fail to provide an effective tool for detecting and monitoring TBI, especially in a competitive sports field or combat setting.